A bill that would regulate New Jersey’s attempts to privatize government functions advanced out of a Senate committee Monday, less than a year after a similar version met Governor Christie’s veto pen.

The legislation would forbid the state from outsourcing a government function to a private company — a practice often touted by Christie as an efficient way to save taxpayers money — if the cost savings would come from increasing fees, cutting services or reducing wages.

Prospective contractors “would be required to demonstrate cost reductions based on improvements such as management efficiencies or technical innovation,” the bill says, “not based on added burdens imposed on the members of the public using the services or the employees producing them.”

Supporters say the measure would protect against nepotism and corruption. Derek Roseman, who represents the state AFL-CIO‎, said it would also help workers by ensuring against “a dangerous race to the bottom in terms of wages.”

It passed along party lines in the Senate Labor Committee today, with three Democrats supporting it and one Republican opposing it. But its future looks bleak. Christie vetoed a similar version, along with several other bills, in July. The Republican governor didn’t individually explain why he rejected each one, but he wrote in his veto message that the collection of bills he vetoed “would potentially add hundreds of millions of dollars to state and local budgets, frustrating New Jersey’s already over-burdened taxpayers.”

Several people who spoke at the committee hearing shared Christie’s concerns.

David Brogan, of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said the wage requirement “severely mitigates or prevents any cost savings on the labor side” of a privatization program. And the bill’s other regulations, he said, “create a difficult, if not hostile, environment for the bidders.”

The requirements will wind up hurting the state, the business advocates said.

“This measure could cost taxpayers more in the end by discouraging potential bidders,” said Michael Egenton, senior vice president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.

The bill — which is sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, and Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer — first gained traction last year amid controversy over the state’s plan to privatize operations of the New Jersey Lottery. Democrats complained they had little input in the decision and questioned whether the move would benefit the state, which relies on the lottery as its fourth-largest source of revenue.

This year, the measure has yet to come up for consideration in an Assembly committee.

A bill that would regulate New Jersey’s attempts to privatize government functions advanced out of a Senate committee Monday, less than a year after a similar version met Governor Christie’s veto pen.

The legislation would forbid the state from outsourcing a government function to a private company — a practice often touted by Christie as an efficient way to save taxpayers money — if the cost savings would come from increasing fees, cutting services or reducing wages.

Prospective contractors “would be required to demonstrate cost reductions based on improvements such as management efficiencies or technical innovation,” the bill says, “not based on added burdens imposed on the members of the public using the services or the employees producing them.”

Supporters say the measure would protect against nepotism and corruption. Derek Roseman, who represents the state AFL-CIO‎, said it would also help workers by ensuring against “a dangerous race to the bottom in terms of wages.”

It passed along party lines in the Senate Labor Committee today, with three Democrats supporting it and one Republican opposing it. But its future looks bleak. Christie vetoed a similar version, along with several other bills, in July. The Republican governor didn’t individually explain why he rejected each one, but he wrote in his veto message that the collection of bills he vetoed “would potentially add hundreds of millions of dollars to state and local budgets, frustrating New Jersey’s already over-burdened taxpayers.”

Several people who spoke at the committee hearing shared Christie’s concerns.

David Brogan, of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said the wage requirement “severely mitigates or prevents any cost savings on the labor side” of a privatization program. And the bill’s other regulations, he said, “create a difficult, if not hostile, environment for the bidders.”

The requirements will wind up hurting the state, the business advocates said.

“This measure could cost taxpayers more in the end by discouraging potential bidders,” said Michael Egenton, senior vice president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.

The bill — which is sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, and Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer — first gained traction last year amid controversy over the state’s plan to privatize operations of the New Jersey Lottery. Democrats complained they had little input in the decision and questioned whether the move would benefit the state, which relies on the lottery as its fourth-largest source of revenue.

This year, the measure has yet to come up for consideration in an Assembly committee.